http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/vic/archive/metvic-30sep2001-4.htm

Sun, 30 Sep 2001 10:43 AEST

More than 300 delegates from 29 countries are in Melbourne this week for an international multiple Sclerosis (MS) conference which starts today.

Executive director of the MS Society, Lindsay McMillan, says Australia's southern states have a high incidence of the neurological disease, because it strikes mostly women aged between 20 and 45 living in colder climates.

He says it is hoped the conference will develop a cooperative approach to advances in treatment and research.

"For people with MS...what they are looking for is a cure," Mr McMillan said.

"It is a terrible disease its ongoing, its unpredictable, its neurological and there is no doubt that we are certainly closer to finding a cure and with all the modern developments in biotechnology research we are very hopeful that a cure is on the horizon."
 

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